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Grade 5 ELA State Test MC Practice (2017)

Last updated 11 months ago
14 questions
In 1881, Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross, an organization that helps people during times of need.

Excerpt from Clara Barton

by Stephen Krensky

1. "I was what is known as a bashful child," Clara confessed in later years. This was not surprising considering that she was surrounded by her family and had little contact with strangers. But shyness was not considered a virtue. In the hope of correcting this deficiency, her parents decided to send her to a nearby boarding school. It was quite a change. At home, she had been the only student, learning from her brothers and sisters. Now there were 150 students filling several schoolrooms. And almost all of them were bigger and older than she was.

2. Clara was good at her studies, but speaking up with dozens of eyes staring at her was unnerving. She grew pale and lost weight. At the end of her first term, her parents, her teachers, and her family doctor held a meeting. They decided it would be best for Clara to return home.

3. But home had changed. Her family was moving down the hill to a 300-acre farm. The new house needed to be fixed, and Clara pitched in to help. Among other things, she learned how to hang wallpaper and make her own paints.

4. Some cousins came to live with the Bartons as well. Clara’s big sisters had stayed at the old house, which made the change feel even more dramatic. On the bright side, Clara’s cousins were closer to her own age. “From never having had any playmates, I now found myself one of a very lively body of six–three boys and three girls…”

5. Clara and her cousins explored the new farm thoroughly, learning the best spot to cross the streams and where to find the tastiest chestnuts. They played hide-and-seek and balanced on poles in the millstream. Clara’s parents, worried that she was becoming too much of a tomboy, forbade her from learning to ice skate. But it was a little late to rein Clara in now. She enlisted the boys to teach her secretly at night. They pulled her along, one on each side, which was fine, as long as the ice was smooth. But, as Clara remembered, “at length we reached a spot where the ice had been cracked and was full of sharp edges.” Here, she fell repeatedly, injuring herself seriously enough that her parents soon found out. They were not pleased, and Clara endured several weeks of their disappointment before life went on as before.

6. In warmer weather, she continued to practice riding– now with her own horse. Riding became second nature to her, and she remembered the skill well later in life. But not every advance was planned or predictable. In 1832, when she was 11, her brother David was helping to build a new family barn. He was working on the ridgepole1 when a plank snapped beneath him and he fell to the ground. At first he seemed to be largely unharmed by the accident, but his internal injuries turned out to be serious.

7. No one had to tell Clara what she should do next, and she didn’t need to ask. She simply knew it in herself. She took care of David day and night, rarely leaving his side. Ans he grew just as attached to her in return. Clara learned to administer his medicine and manage his treatment with great aplomb2. Among her many duties was applying the leeches that were supposed to suck the bad blood out of David’s body.

8. For two years, Clara tended to her brother, leaving him for only half a day in all that time. He recovered at last, no thanks to the leeches, due to rest and the ability of his body to heal over time.

9. Clara’s devotion was not unheard of in the Barton family. Her great aunt Martha Ballard, who died a few years before Clara’s birth, had been a well-respected midwife. She had delivered babies and treated illnesses across a wide swath of the wilderness of Maine. Caring for her brother had given Clara a special satisfaction. It was something she would always remember.

10. As delighted as Clara was to see David recover, she had trouble simply returning to a life of her own. The freedom to do as she pleased was no substitute for the feeling of usefulness she had felt nursing her brother back to health. She felt anxious and unsettled and cast about for some meaningful way to fill her time.

11. For the moment, she stayed busy doing chores around the farm and helping to look after her sister Sally’s children. As time passed, though, she roamed farther from home, coming to the aid of poor families in the nearby countryside. Some had illnesses that she tended to. Others had money troubles, and she tried to point these families in a direction where they could get assistance.
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1 ridgepole: the horizontal beam that runs along the peak of a roof; the upper ends of the rafters are attached to it
2 aplomb: confidence and skill
Required
1

How do paragraphs 1 through 4 support a main idea of the article?

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1

Why did Clara return from boarding school?

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1

Read this sentence from paragraph 5.
But it was a little late to rein Clara in now.
What does the phrase "to rein Clara in" suggest?

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1

What do paragraphs 5 and 6 show about Clara?

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1

Why is paragraph 9 important for the article?

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1

How did Clara's relationship with her brother David most affect her life?

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1

Which detail would be most important to include in a summary of the article?

Coach Motivates Her Girls, Both On and Off the Court
by Martha Irvine

1. The coach leans forward, her hands pressed on a table in a room off the gymnasium. A basketball game is about to start. She is silent for a minute or two. Her players shift uncomfortably.
2. When Dorothy Gaters finally speaks, her message is familiar and firm. As usual, it's about fundamentals.
3. "Move your big feet." "Box out." "No fouls."
4. If they don't do that, she doesn't hesitate to take it up a notch on the court.
5. "You're embarrassing yourselves!" she tells them. She is the same, even when they're winning handily.
6. Gaters later explains: "Sloppy play is never enjoyable. Sometimes I'll be like, 'I hope this game is over soon. I can go home and watch some real basketball.' "
7. The candor1 might be hard for the members of the girls' basketball team at John Marshall Metropolitan High School to hear. But they listen. They know this woman who can take them places.
8. For 40 years, Gaters has brought respect and pride to a West Side Chicago neighborhood that has seen more than its share of hard times. They understand this and also how much Gaters cares about them and their futures. And that's whether they end up playing basketball after high school or not.
9. "Just do something. So that you can be self-supportive, help your family, and set an example for those who are going to follow you," the coach tells her players. They call her Ms. Gaters or often just "G".
10. This current crop of players helped Gaters reach her 1,000 career win in November. The victory placed her among an elite group of coaches at any level of basketball.
11. Gaters' attention to detail and her competitiveness have led her teams to eight Illinois state titles and 23 city titles.
12. A few of her players have gone on to play professionally, including Cappie Pondexter, a WNBA All Star and Olympic gold medalist.
13. "She's the first coach who really taught me the game of basketball," says Pondexter, whom Gaters first saw play in a YMCA recreational league and then helped hone2 her talent. "I credit it all to her, my humble beginnings."
14. Pondexter started at Rutgers University, but she is far from the only Gaters helped get to college. And that is among the coach's proudest accomplishments.
15. In fact, her players must regularly bring in academic progress reports or report cards for her to check.
16. "School before basketball" says Tineesha Coleman, a junior who hopes to play in college.
17. When asked what Gaters is like, former player Rhonda Greyer, now 33, ponders that question.
18. "She's a sweetie pie," Greyer says, quickly adding, "Off the Court. OFF the court!"
19. She laughs, as does Pondexter when recalling the seemingly endless laps her team ran on the track above Marshall practice Gym 12. The gym has since been named for Gaters.
20. "I wasn't a troubled kid. My problem was focusing on basketball so much," Pondexter says, remembering how Gaters would call her mother if Pondexter skipped class. In her case, the punishment would be to lose gym time.
21. But though Gaters is tough, it is a tough love, her former players say. They recall a coach who occasionally took them to movies or out for burgers and fries.
22. They note how Gaters has quietly provided a coat, clothing or shoes for a player who needs them.
23. Gaters started coaching in 1975, and understands how one can learn and succeed, in big ways. The Mississippi native grew up in Chicago. She says she took on the Marshall girls' team, fresh out of the Depaul University, because "no one else wanted to do it."
24. Gaters liked basketball, even played a bit herself. But she didn't know much about coaching, so she watched the boys' coaches carefully and took in any games she could find.
25. She won her first state championship in 1982.
26. Now, tucked amid the memorabilia3 in her office is a photo of Gaters shaking the hand of President Bill Clinton at the White House. She was honored for her work with young people in 1998. Another photo shows her being inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame. In 2009, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame recognized Gaters with one of its lifetime achievement awards for high school coaches.
27. The 68-year-old coach says she thinks about retiring. But some are doubtful she'll leave anytime soon.
28. Assistant coach Gwen Howard smiles and rolls her eyes playfully at the thought of the coach retiring.
29. "Please! I think this last would do this forever if she could."

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1candor: the quality of being open, sincere, and honest
2hone: make something better
3memorabilia: things collected as souvenirs
Required
1

What does "take it up a notch" mean as it is used in paragraph 4?

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1

Read this sentence from paragraph 7.
That candor might be hard for the members of the girls'basketball team at John Marshall Metropolitan High School to hear.
What idea does this sentence help to support?

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1

Read this sentence from paragraph 7.
They know this is a woman who can take them places.
How does the author best support this point?

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Read this sentence from paragraph 21.
But though Gaters is tough, it is a tough love, her former players say.
Which point in the article does this details best support?

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What does paragraph 26 suggest about Gaters?

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How do paragraphs 27 through 29 contribute to the article?

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According to the article, why do so many people respect Gaters?